Murder at City Hall: The killing of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk

Summary

The documentary recounts the tragic events leading to the deaths of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, two pivotal figures in the city's progressive movement. Their assassinations by fellow Supervisor Dan White shocked the nation and marked a critical moment in LGBTQ history. The film highlights Moscone and Milk's achievements and the grave aftermath, including the controversial verdict that ignited the 'White Night Riots.' The story also reflects on the broader socio-political changes and tensions within San Francisco during the late 1970s, marking both a significant advance in LGBTQ rights and a reminder of the violent opposition it faced.

Highlights

• George Moscone was known for his progressive policies and efforts to include marginalized communities in San Francisco's political landscape. 🌉
• Harvey Milk was a trailblazer for gay rights, becoming one of the first openly gay elected officials in the US. 🏳️‍🌈
• Dan White's shocking murder of Moscone and Milk was a pivotal historical moment. 🕯️
• The 'Twinkie Defense' gained national attention during Dan White's trial, in which his consumption of junk food was cited as a factor in his actions. 🍰
• The controversial verdict sparked the White Night Riots, showing how deeply the events impacted the community. 🔥

Key Takeaways

• George Moscone and Harvey Milk were influential leaders in San Francisco, advocating for LGBTQ rights and inclusivity. 🌈
• Their assassination by Dan White was a major historical event that affected San Francisco and LGBTQ activism profoundly. 🏛️
• The verdict of the trial led to widespread outrage and the infamous White Night Riots. 🔥
• The story captures the cultural and political upheaval in San Francisco during the late 1970s, highlighting the tension between progressives and conservatives. ✊
• The shocking events underscore both the progress and the backlash experienced by the LGBTQ community battling for equal rights. ⚖️

Overview

San Francisco in the late 1970s was a boiling pot of cultural and social change. Key figures like Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk emerged as leaders for progressive and inclusive politics. Moscone was renowned for pushing ahead with policies that opened doors for racial and sexual minorities, while Milk broke barriers as the first openly gay man elected to major public office in the US.

However, their promising journey met a tragic end when fellow Supervisor Dan White assassinated them in cold blood. This shocking event marked a grim chapter in San Francisco's history, bringing international attention to the struggle for LGBTQ rights. The trial of Dan White introduced the infamous 'Twinkie Defense,' highlighting a disturbing view on justice and mental health at the time.

The verdict resulted in outrage and civil unrest, culminating in the White Night Riots. These riots underscored the simmering tensions between the city's progressive elements and those resistant to change. The tragedy of Moscone and Milk's deaths served as both a somber reminder and a galvanizing force in the ongoing fight for equality and justice in the LGBTQ community.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction of Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk's Political Influence The chapter introduces Mayor George Moscone, highlighting his charismatic nature and his commitment to creating a more progressive and inclusive San Francisco. He aimed to empower ordinary citizens whose efforts often go unnoticed. The narrative includes a personal testament to Moscone's liberal values from a family member, underlining his genuine commitment to liberalism.
• 01:00 - 03:00: Tensions and Murder The chapter titled 'Tensions and Murder' explores the political landscape of San Francisco, marked by a clash between the conservative old guard and the emerging liberal movement. Key figures like Harvey are depicted as pivotal in challenging the established Democratic establishment, seeking reform and new governance. This political tension escalates into a tragic climax with an implied murder that puts an abrupt end to promising political terms. The narrative unfolds amidst a backdrop of vicious attacks against certain communities, hinting at broader social unrest and divisive rhetoric of the time.
• 03:00 - 05:00: Impact and Reaction to the Assassinations This chapter discusses the assassination of Mayor Mosconi and Harvey Milk by their colleague Dan White. The narrative is framed around an eyewitness account of the events leading up to and immediately following the murders, capturing a tense and chaotic atmosphere at City Hall. The witness recounts attempts to assist Harvey Milk, describing a futile effort to check his pulse due to a severe injury. The chapter conveys the shock and urgency of the situation and suggests themes of betrayal and violence.
• 05:00 - 07:00: Dan White's Trial and Aftermath The chapter discusses the shocking announcement that Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were shot and killed. The prime suspect in the case is Supervisor Dan White. The trial that follows becomes a public spectacle, focusing on the disbelief surrounding how Dan White, perceived as an all-American boy, could commit such a heinous act.
• 07:00 - 10:20: Legacy and Reflections The chapter "Legacy and Reflections" explores the psychological state and habits of Dan White during his depressive episodes. It highlights the peculiar association of his diet predominantly consisting of high sugar food items like Coke, Pepsi, cupcakes, and Twinkies during these times. The chapter also touches upon the broader narrative surrounding his actions while in these states and the repercussions of the verdict that was ultimately delivered.

Murder at City Hall: The killing of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] he was the charismatic mayor who pushed for a more progressive and inclusive san francisco we're going to spread the action to people whose names never appear in columns who never appear in the society pages but who are simply hard-working dedicated san franciscans my dad was a real liberal he was a genuine liberal come on out his election signified a turning point in lgbtq rights if i win i have an incredible responsibility to the district and city but i also know i will
• 00:30 - 01:00 carry the responsibility of the gay community harvey was all about challenging the democratic establishment together they ushered in a new era in san francisco politics pitting a conservative old guard people of this city are being viciously attacked against the new liberals do you george r moscone solemnly swear but their terms were cut short i went out by way of the rear door but i was in the mayor's office just prior to mr white's entry i was the
• 01:00 - 01:30 last person i think to see dan white walking in to visit with mayor mosconi just before 11 a.m i walked off the elevator on the second floor of city hall and was almost knocked over by police rushing into the back door of the mayor's office the men were murdered by one of their own colleagues i opened the door i found harvey on his stomach i tried to get a pulse and put my finger through a bullet hole as president of
• 01:30 - 02:00 the board of supervisors it's my duty to make this announcement both mayor moscone and supervisor harvey milk have been shot and killed the suspect the supervisor dan white [Music] the subsequent trial would become a spectacle how could somebody like dan white this all-american boy do such a despicable thing there's no
• 02:00 - 02:30 sane person in a sane moment proactively killing somebody source is telling me today that when dan white went into one of these depressive states he would stay in the house lie in bed and watch television the interesting note is what he ate while he was in one of these moods foods with high sugar content like coke pepsi cupcakes and twinkies [Applause] and when the verdict ultimately came
• 02:30 - 03:00 down outrage spilled out onto the streets there was inordinate surprise at the verdict it just was just hurtful it's just painful they ignored the facts the tension began to increase and increase until it blew it up started with a murder at city hall san francisco was filled with pent up
• 03:00 - 03:30 emotions in the late 1970s a string of high-profile crimes captivated the city as the population reeled from the social freedoms born out of the summer of love in the 1960s the city by the bay had become the gay capital of the united states and a new regime of political movers and shakers for opening doors for the everyday citizen old san francisco was clashing with a new san francisco we're going to spread the action to people whose names never appear in columns who never appear in
• 03:30 - 04:00 the society pages but who are simply hardworking dedicated san franciscans they're going to start to believe that something new is going to happen in city hall george moscone was born in san francisco just before the depression his parents were italian-american immigrants who settled in the city's marina district he was like porous you felt him he was not cool in any way he was super cool like as in dude knew how to dress
• 04:00 - 04:30 he was a full-on extrovert and he was always interested in the culture of arts or the culture of sports he attended private catholic schools before heading to college ultimately getting his law degree back in his hometown it was there he met willie brown george vancouver and i were on the same janitorial cleaning team at the law school because we were both working our way through law school george was very smart guy very talented guy became a quality practicing lawyer
• 04:30 - 05:00 and ultimately somebody that many of us supported for elective office moscone was encouraged to run for a state assembly seat in 1960. he lost but he did go on to win a seat on the san francisco board of supervisors three years later this failing by a five to five vote the principal motion came up and i voted against it it was on that board that moscone would make a name for himself as a crusader for poor people small business owners and racial
• 05:00 - 05:30 minorities moscone went to mississippi in the civil rights movement for the purpose of getting affidavits of black people who had been barred from registering to vote and been barred from voting moscone did not spend long on the board of supervisors as a state senator he was part of a progressive alliance of political leaders also out of san francisco in the capacity of state senate he became the state senate leader
• 05:30 - 06:00 it really was a complete ratification an acknowledgement of his extraordinary talent and then this is an ideal opportunity if we let it pass and i think california is less than the number one state it claims to be in sacramento moscone fought for school lunch programs in public schools and to legalize abortion in california he was also a proponent of gay rights working with his college friend willie brown to pass a bill repealing the state's sodomy laws we knew what liberal
• 06:00 - 06:30 was and my dad was a real liberal he was a genuine liberal encouraged by support from his senate run and growing support from the city's lgbtq community moscone decided to make a run for mayor when george decided to run from there we were all for him he ran as a family man he ran as much as he could from a family perspective he loved showing the family off he loved the kids always there it was like a big thing for him he won by 5 000 votes too few to declare an all-out
• 06:30 - 07:00 victory but good enough for a runoff election one that would change the face of san francisco politics that's not the way we're going to do business in san francisco anymore it was not a pretty liberal city before then it had liberal communities but it didn't have liberal power he harnessed the support from the liberal sources the hospital workers the bus drivers and people like that that campaign also included support from volunteers from some of the city's most
• 07:00 - 07:30 vulnerable populations when he ran for mayor he gave a speech that talked about that this city should not belong to white men anymore the things that i've stood for in 12 years of public office the things that i talked about in 12 years of public office are important do you george r moscone solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states george moscone
• 07:30 - 08:00 was a popular and wonderful mayor change will not be easy you could have differences with the mayor but you know george had lived a life he lived it fully he lived it with abu dhan's eye moscone spent his first year as mayor fighting to keep the san francisco giants baseball team from moving to toronto canada without george moscone the giants would be in toronto his biggest one was the cultural shift that he created in who was on commissions
• 08:00 - 08:30 who was appointed who got jobs changed we can fill the vacancies created by people who've never been asked to serve their city notwithstanding their extraordinary talent and integrity because as you know they have ordinarily been appointed on the basis of how much they or their sponsors contributed to the campaign of the appointing power in the past people who pointed to boards and commissions had been heavy-duty donors they had been people from the social discipline world
• 08:30 - 09:00 from the a-list of folk or from people who had titles and from the business community behind the scenes he made good on his promise to change city politics he appointed large numbers of women gays lesbians and racial minorities to city commissions and advisory boards he appointed a whole series of people who otherwise would never be considered eligible for any of those commissions that included appointing harvey milk to the city's board of permit appeals
• 09:00 - 09:30 making him the first openly gay city commissioner in the united states harvey milk was a navy veteran kicked out of the service for being gay he moved around the country landing in san francisco's castro district in 1972. i didn't really take him seriously he had a ponytail he had this whole sort of hippie persona which seemed to me it seemed he was too old for that bouncing between jobs he opened castro camera in 1973. his camera shop on
• 09:30 - 10:00 castro street wasn't just where people came to get their memories developed but where the community congregated and mobilized across the street was a garage where somebody used to park the car that's been changed now it's a travel agency not exclusively gay but catering to the gay people run by gay people operated by gay people it's thriving he was trying to organize the neighborhood which was transforming in such a rapid rate it was quite exciting because when i first saw the castro it was still
• 10:00 - 10:30 a kind of sleepy mostly irish and heavily scandinavian so the transformation was very exciting to behold with thousands of kids like myself hitchhiking taking the bus you know train plane and by the thousands you know you could really you could see it every week it seemed like there were more and more of us well there used to be a beauty shop down the street in an old dilapidated building that's been ripped out they've gone all the way through put
• 10:30 - 11:00 an outdoor garden cafe restaurant there that's open day and night they put a lot of little shops in the arcade it's been so successful that the same people are now going to do the same thing in another part of the city milk made his first run for the board of supervisors san francisco's version of a city council in 1973 but lost he ran for state assembly but lost he ran for supervisor again and lost harvey was gay and at that time that was a big deal but he was winning
• 11:00 - 11:30 name recognition and notoriety for being brash animated and outspoken in san francisco at the time you had sort of this old guard and if you looked at the old guard it included some very very courageous people whose contributions perhaps i didn't understand at the time and took you know in some cases many years to appreciate fully milk wasn't willing to just go along with the old guard he proclaimed himself the mayor of castro street cut off his ponytail and prepared himself for
• 11:30 - 12:00 another run at supervisor this time he stood a chance at winning that's because san francisco changed the way it picked supervisors instead of voting for them on citywide ballots the city was split into different districts allowing neighborhoods to choose their own representatives harvey was all about challenging the democratic establishment for so long gay people have been told that you can't stay together for any period of time and maintain a stable relationship milk's leading challenger rick stokes another
• 12:00 - 12:30 gay man harvey represented quote street people and there wasn't anybody that really represented the suit wearing people and that was my category as a lawyer rick stokes was part of a politically powerful group of gays and lesbians who had achieved some success in changing anti-gay laws i thought we got further along by see pointing out the similarities finding natural uh friends
• 12:30 - 13:00 uh to link up with and seeking different rights where harvey up they took the straight approach and you shove it down people's throat you know harvey do you think okay if you win in district five that you're going to have a special responsibility to the gays in this district if i win i have an incredible responsibility to the district and city but i also know i will carry the responsibility of the gay community not just in the city but that 14 year old child in des moines iowa who needs to know that the system does work
• 13:00 - 13:30 milk won his seat earning nearly twice as many votes as stokes harvey was a showman harvey was kind of bigger than life harvey had a puckish quality to him bigger than life of a member of the board of supervisors his first action in office to introduce legislation that would outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation today if i went to arguments like macy's or the emporium and asked for job they have the right not to hire
• 13:30 - 14:00 me solely because i'm gay today if i went to the san francisco hotel to check in a room they have the right to refuse it solely because i'm gay this takes out of discrimination those kind of situations mayor moscone enthusiastically signed the legislation into law [Applause] [Music] but similar legislation was passing around the country much to the dismay of christian conservative singer anita bryant i guess i never realized when i
• 14:00 - 14:30 first got into this uh just how far it would go and and how intense it would get but uh certainly uh the intensity for save our children in in pushing for repeal of this uh you know dangerous uh homosexual ordinance we're very intense as a matter of fact my pastor reverend chapman and uh has said that that he would go to jail and even burn the school rather than allow a flaunting homosexual to become a role model [Music]
• 14:30 - 15:00 bryant's so-called save our children campaign successfully pushed to repeal a similar ordinance in florida her wind fueled anti-gay sentiment across the country including in milk's home state of california a statewide initiative would have made firing gay teachers or any public school employees who supported gay rights mandatory the so-called briggs initiative was sponsored by john briggs a conservative state legislator
• 15:00 - 15:30 from southern california anybody who teaches in school who was to say i think it's okay for a gay person to teach and therefore since the governor has come out against the briggs and lieutenant governor if they were to be teachers after they retire from public office they would be thrown out because they say it's okay uh labor leaders up and down the state are saying that this initiative is wrong we should kill it and therefore they would not be allowed to teach there was incredible grassroots organizing we had very very little money
• 15:30 - 16:00 there was a whole separate campaign in l.a in southern california but harvey got the attention because at the time he was the only elected gay official in the whole state and one of the first handful in the whole country milk's election empowered people up and down the state we have an exorcism of some of the hate that's been thrown out at us in the last couple of weeks the briggs initiative was overwhelmingly defeated victory in hand milk became one of mayor
• 16:00 - 16:30 moscone's closest political allies harvey and george really kind of were the people that imagined the progressive coalition it was through their work separately and together that the people we now call lgbtq join the ranks of trade unionists environmentalists feminists and the progressive elements of all of the immigrant communities and the african-american community in the city
• 16:30 - 17:00 but not all san franciscans were happy with the direction city politics were going among them supervisor dan white elected at the same time as harvey milk he represented a more conservative western part of the city and announced in angry tones that the gloves were off dan white was raised in san francisco described by friends and neighbors as an all-american boy after a stint in vietnam he returned to
• 17:00 - 17:30 san francisco and became a police officer he quit the force and then joined the city's fire department when the city switched to district elections white ran for the board of supervisors you've never done this sort of thing before how do you know you're doing it right well i can compare to a lot of the campaigns that i've studied i've never been involved as a political candidate before but the neighborhood reaction here has been fantastic see i was raised in this neighborhood for 20 years and
• 17:30 - 18:00 then lived in the crocker amazon area for the remainder of my life so i know a lot of the local business people a lot of the church people and they have been very supportive his district was a largely white middle class section of the city the families who lived there weren't always supportive of the more progressive politics that existed in other parts of san francisco people of this city are being viciously attacked beaten robbed raped every day and yet the statistics cannot convey
• 18:00 - 18:30 what this means throughout san francisco he was a relatively conservative guy except that he was clearly of the old traditional san francisco vintage just days after the briggs initiative failed seven months into his term supervisor dan white abruptly resigned from office dan white succeeded the only time he ever ran for public office he was elected to the eighth supervisorial district in san francisco in 1977 soon
• 18:30 - 19:00 after which the city attorney informed him that he would have to resign his job with the fire department under san francisco law he said it was because he couldn't support his wife and baby on a supervisor's salary just nine thousand six hundred dollars a year to make ends meet he and his wife sold baked potatoes at a pier 39 concession stand we had to mortgage our home to get into the business because i saw it as an opportunity for my family for the future but now what you're saying though is that your constituents have to rely
• 19:00 - 19:30 on the mayor of this city to come up with a person who will adequately represent your district true well that's what you'd hope the mayor would do i have my priorities and when i see my family start to suffer because of the effects of the job and of my position and i see my constituents suffering because they call me up and they deserve to have their supervisor out at community meetings you know at uh to learn their problems to help them as as
• 19:30 - 20:00 i'm their representative to help them and when i have to leave them you know to go down to earn money to to supplement the income that i'm not getting so my family can be taken care of then the job is not being done on either front when he resigned it was george's responsibility as the mayor to fill the vacancy this is the body of power that determines policy for the city and county of san francisco for mayor moscone white's resignation was an opportunity to flip the board of
• 20:00 - 20:30 supervisors in his favor with white in office the more conservative supervisors held the majority we do know he has strong support from some sides for instance like the police department or fire department or some business interests do you feel that some of the people are speaking a little more strongly than that to you the first priority are the people in district 8. the second priority are the people from all other parts of the district because they are in fact city supervised i have to be very concerned that the first priority is met and at this point i am not yet certain and it's also important
• 20:30 - 21:00 to remember that one of the many significant issues that was before that board at the time was the implementation of a consent decree to desegregate the police and fire department when i got to san francisco there were a bare handful of african-american officers very few latinos probably no women except there was a hiccup in the plan a week after he quit dan white changed his mind and asked the mayor for his
• 21:00 - 21:30 supervisor's job back there are many interested candidates and dan white of course is one of the high ranking candidates but i wanted to make clear that i i no longer feel that i'm duty-bound to do that i think it's essential that i've got an appointment to make that's my appointment to make for better or worse for the next three years for a very important district of this city when he resigned these groups came to him in mass and said you've got to get your appointment back the board was split he was in effect
• 21:30 - 22:00 um a deciding vote george had to struggle to get six votes for many things i think that's a big part of why the police officers association went to dan after he resigned and said what the heck are you doing you know we paid this money to finance your campaign to get you on that board and now you're throwing it away because you're too immature to play you don't know how it works you know i mean the guy was just
• 22:00 - 22:30 dumb politically what people don't know is that dan white and harvey milk were friends and they would meet in the castro uh i think was every thursday morning for coffee and harvey sort of alternated between trying to mentor him and goad him and dan had asked harvey for help white found out that he would not be getting his supervisor's job back on the 26th of
• 22:30 - 23:00 november the next day george moscone and harvey milk would exchange their last words with dan white [Music] a phone call from a radio reporter late in the night tipped off dan white that mayor moscone decided not to give him his job back so at nine o'clock that monday morning george called me on the phone and said i'm going to appoint don haranzi at 11
• 23:00 - 23:30 o'clock and at 11 o'clock that morning don joranzi was going to be sworn in dan white intended to take his seat at the board at two o'clock so two people were going to take the same seat so i was trying to find dan to dissuade him cleve jones met with harvey milk earlier that morning he left an important file at home i left the file in my apartment on castro street when he was pissed off he was kind of short with me and said
• 23:30 - 24:00 you need to go back to your apartment and get the damn file and so i collected my stuff and i'm on the way out the door and he could tell i was upset and he stopped and he just i'm sorry you know i'm just really under i'm very stressed right now jones went home to pick the file up dan white woke up called his assistant and asked her to pick him up at home when she arrived white had a smith and wesson revolver and a holster strapped to his belt the gun was loaded with five bullets in his
• 24:00 - 24:30 pocket ten more white evaded the metal detectors at city hall and entered the building through a window on the side he then headed to the mayor's office on the second floor he did not have an appointment to see the mayor not unusual for a supervisor and i was the last person i think to see dan white walking in to visit with mayor moscone willie brown was taking a break from a trial at city hall and visited his friend george
• 24:30 - 25:00 moscone moscone told him that he had lined up a replacement for dan white don horanzi he was bringing in somebody who was not going to fight him and he was going to increase his votes on the on the board and he invited the family to come to city hall for the purpose of swearing in so horenzie could go to work immediately moscone told his staff he'd meet with dan white one last time i went out by way of the rear door but i was in the mayor's office
• 25:00 - 25:30 just prior to the white centering i as a matter of fact walked right in the hallway and dan white coming by and we spoke to each other and he continued into the mayor's office and i went out the side door and back up the stairs to the courtroom the mayor brought white into a private office and poured him a drink staff outside the mayor's office reported hearing loud voices white drew his 38 special revolver and fired two shots into the mayor's body after the mayor fell to the
• 25:30 - 26:00 floor he shot him twice in the head just before 11 a.m i walked off the elevator on the second floor of city hall and was almost knocked over by police rushing into the back door of the mayor's office the crime was seconds old i saw the cops then an ambulance crew rush in and turn right into the mayor's office then came moore police and sheriff's deputies no one knew exactly what was going on bit by bit the picture got clearer the mayor and supervisor harvey milk had been shot
• 26:00 - 26:30 words started to spread of a shooting at city hall and somebody yelled at me out the window that mayor moscone had been shot and i thought my god who would who on earth would want to kill george moscone what cleve jones was unaware of was that dan white reloaded his gun left the mayor's office and walked down the hall to the board of supervisors offices and i saw him come in and i said dan can
• 26:30 - 27:00 i talk to you white invited harvey milk into his office across the hall and i heard the door close and i heard the shots and smelled the cordite dan white shot harvey milk three times when he fell to the floor he shot him twice in the back of the head and nobody was around every door was closed no one was in the clerk's office i went down the hall i opened the wrong door i opened the
• 27:00 - 27:30 door i found harvey on his stomach i tried to get a pulse and put my finger through a bullet hole he was clearly dead feinstein tried to reach the chief of police but couldn't she was completely unaware of the fact that just down the hall the mayor lay dead as well and finally he came across and told me that the mayor had been shot and killed at about the same time cleve jones had
• 27:30 - 28:00 returned to city hall and i saw the police swarming around the east side where the mayor's office is and i was very frightened but i had a key to get in and i i ran in calling for harvey you know hey harvey where are you and uh as i turned that corner i saw his feet sticking out of dan white's office and i knew it was him because he only had one pair of dress shoes a pair of second hand wingtips
• 28:00 - 28:30 and at almost exactly that moment dianne feinstein came rushing past me and i saw that there were um there was some blood on her and then i peered into the office and saw harvey i went out and made the statement on the balcony outside of the board of supervisors
• 28:30 - 29:00 as president of the board of supervisors it's my duty to make this announcement both mayor moscone and supervisor harvey milk have been shot and killed [Music] the jesus is supervisor dan white
• 29:00 - 29:30 it was a devastating moment for san francisco it was a day of infamy thank you very who is it palpatine chaos was how reporters described the scene as they tried to determine what
• 29:30 - 30:00 just happened visit the mayor no comment just an hour and a half after mayor moscone and supervisor harvey milk was shot and killed the chairman of the board of supervisors dianne feinstein called a press conference with other city officials as acting mayor feinstein ordered an immediate state of mourning for the city she also made it clear that because of the gunshots she heard from her office she may be called to testify so at this time she can't say anything about what led up to this horrible crime
• 30:00 - 30:30 i was i was not in the office at the time i was in my office i made a full statement to the police and to the district attorney and i am under instructions by them not to say anything more most insiders at city hall were so stunned they could barely speak supervisor terry francois i
• 30:30 - 31:00 was shocked dan white left city hall but he came here to the doggie diner on van ness avenue and in a phone booth like this he called his wife she didn't know what had happened she was working he said and the son was at a babysitter then he used a four-letter word and told his wife to meet him at the cathedral this is where dan white met his wife she had no idea what he was going to tell her in fact he hadn't even been able to talk to her about the pressure in his
• 31:00 - 31:30 mind he said he felt as though his skull was going to crack when he told her what he had done she slumped they then walked to northern station where he surrendered no sooner had the all-point bulletin for dan white's arrest gone out then he came in here at northern police station on ellis street just off van ness and gave himself up within minutes he was taken to the san francisco hall of justice on bryant street sconey was wheeled out i'm told he'd been shot three times from a 38 caliber
• 31:30 - 32:00 revolver bullets hit him in the side the shoulder and the head sources say white appeared calm when he surrendered his wife was driven to northern station then taken to the hall of justice in police custody dan white choked through tears as he walked investigators through the murders he had just committed a lot of pressure maybe financial pressure this is my job situation the recording was played for reporters
• 32:00 - 32:30 and outlined dan white's frustration with the mayor and how he felt betrayed by supervisor harvey milk in supervisor some others were working against me to get my seat back on the board i learned this i was in the city attorney's office when supervisor mouth called stating that he was of that mind he didn't speak to me for the city attorney i was in the office and i heard the conversation
• 32:30 - 33:00 that he was going to try to prevent me from taking my seat again he explained that he packed his gun and made his way to city hall any device planned or anything i remember the house to talk to see the mayor and i went downstairs to make a phone call and i have my gun down there he walked into the mayor's office and was told he would
• 33:00 - 33:30 not be reappointed to his supervisor's seat didn't have even the courtesy to call me or tell me that i wasn't going to be reported and then i got kind of fuzzy [Applause] just my head didn't feel right and then he said let's go into the back room and have a drink and talk about it white says the mayor told him people in his district no
• 33:30 - 34:00 longer wanted him to represent them and a replacement would be announced at a press conference later that morning dan white left through a back door started to head downstairs and saw one of harvey milk's aides across city hall
• 34:00 - 34:30 he turned back and went to confront milk you know i just agree with him on a lot of things but i was always on it you know that was devious and then he started kind of smirking because he knew he knew i wasn't going to give him and you just didn't uh any impression of them i started to say you know how hard i worked for it and what it meant to me and my family and my reputation and the hard work of
• 34:30 - 35:00 this person and and then i just got all flushed and it's hot word of the murder spread quickly across the city in milk's district shock this was more than harvey milk's district these were his people the ones he loved
• 35:00 - 35:30 the ones he worked so hard for at city hall my initial reaction was confusion frustration fear uh i don't know it seems like san francisco has become the collecting place for every crazy in the world i feel very sad i once met mayor moscone and i have my photography work done at harvey milk's business but what i think we all need to think about is gun control dan white's neighbors were stunned to hear their supervisor was a killer we were there within minutes after it happened shawnee street san
• 35:30 - 36:00 francisco and as we arrived a dan white family member went speeding away in a car leaving the street empty but the air was filled with the horrible news the clean-cut young politician from down the street was being arrested the mayor and the supervisor were dead i can't understand what happened to him there was no hint of anything wrong not a thing we liked the guy very much we voted for him was glad to do it hope that he was going to do a lot of good but he didn't
• 36:00 - 36:30 things like this that happen you know in your own neighborhood like this is just it's not right it's just not right it's always something drastically wrong i don't know whether it's with us or whether it's which is the whole world not a person like him at the moscone home the family gathered the neighborhood is relatively quiet and the neighbors all seem very stunned as they try to understand what has happened i found out from my mom's friend her best friend actually told me at the house everyone was at the house there were reports outside the house we
• 36:30 - 37:00 were brought home from school and she told me your your father is dead he's been killed so you remember it very well because the air changed forever ours was a very rare circumstance not being shot but being assassinated a phenomenon that is rare in american politics and so we were part of that area we suddenly became part of that narrative while having the same the other
• 37:00 - 37:30 narrative which was we lost our dad the moscones lost a father and husband the city lost its leader a community lost heroes people began to gather at the steps of city hall looking for answers here at city hall people are overwhelmed by the tragedy they've been coming in here in droves the gulf was a very dedicated person to all the people of san francisco in a personal friend also me and moscone was a beautiful and warm person and a personal friend i'm deeply shocked as much of the city
• 37:30 - 38:00 is they they only assassinate good people bad people nothing happens to them by nightfall dan white sat in a jail cell concerned he may hurt himself officers were under orders to check on him every 15 minutes 24 hours a day [Music]
• 38:00 - 38:30 those who had gathered at the steps of city hall were joined by a candlelight procession that made its way from the castro district to civic center the crowd swelled to 50 000 people [Music] harvey milk knew he'd be a target for assassination he made three recordings each slightly different with his final wishes shortly after he was elected
• 38:30 - 39:00 portions of one of those tapes were read out loud to the silent crowd years later one of those tapes would land in the hands of the glbt historical society giving the public a chance to hear milk speak these are harvey's words i know that when a person is assassinated after they have achieved victory there are several possibilities one is to have some people go crazy in the streets angry and frustrated
• 39:00 - 39:30 and the other is to have a big show or a splash a great big service naturally i want neither i cannot prevent anybody from getting angry or mad or frustrated i could only hope that they'll turn anger and frustration and madness into something positive i would hope they take it to positive and until 5 10 100 000 would rise i'd love to see every gay doctor come
• 39:30 - 40:00 out of them see every gay lawyer again george if you get pure credibility architect come out oh i hope that every day we'll just say enough come forward and tell everybody well a sign that the world knows the world that would do more to impress overnight i ask for movement to continue for movement to grow because
• 40:00 - 40:30 last week i got that phone call i got that phone call come out to defensively in my election gave somebody else one more person hope and there's at least one person out there who has hope after all that's what it's about it's not about personal gain not about ego and about power
• 40:30 - 41:00 it's about giving those young people out there in altoona pennsylvania's hope you gotta give him hope [Applause] [Music]
• 41:00 - 41:30 it was the start of a period of mourning in the city one that continued for days by midweek both george moscone and harvey milk lay in state in san francisco city hall [Music] thousands gathered in silence for the fallen leaders in our sorrow this lovely jewel of a city seems a dark and saddened place [Music]
• 41:30 - 42:00 good morning i'm van amberg along with linda you jim vargas and father ed lynch as new scene continues the solemn ceremonies that make up san francisco's week of mourning over the murders of mayor george mosconian supervisor harvey milk ironically the service was held at the same church where dan white met his wife before turning himself into police
• 42:00 - 42:30 and the men and women around the country who serve their own cities in the same way came to to bury one of their own and they included former mayors joseph aliotto george christopher new york's john lindsay the people of government also came to do honor to the memory of george moscone his fellows in the legislature those who knew him in washington and those who spent a tumultuous three years with him in san francisco's city hall moscone's children read scripture but
• 42:30 - 43:00 the just man though he died early shall be at rest choking back tears for our city and for all those who are in public office that we may work for justice and trees and said goodbye to a father who gave his life for the city he loved the lord actually whenever i remember you in my prayers as indeed i do constantly night and day
• 43:00 - 43:30 recalling your tears when we parted i yearn to see you again that would make my happiness complete i find myself thinking of your sincere faith the spirit which god has given us in no cowardly spirit but rather one that makes us strong loving and wise it was like an endurance test of having to stand up to suffering in a public way which was
• 43:30 - 44:00 just what you had to do there was no choice [Music] hours later a public memorial for harvey milk was held with a much different tone not been so much a memorial for harvey milk although it certainly has been that as it has been a true celebration of gay unity gay pride as a tribute to harvey milk and as an affirmation of our own freedom and integrity and wholeness i call upon every gay person in this room
• 44:00 - 44:30 in this city in this country to come out come out with your friends your employers because this was his city he loved it and he believed in it i was proud of what he was doing this was more important than i was proud of the symbol he stood for
• 44:30 - 45:00 and the attempts he was making and his honesty and that to me was high and above everything else with the services completed the attention turned to city hall i would like to ask that every member president chambers stand and say a very silent prayer george moscone was very lucky he has a wonderful wife but what it did to that
• 45:00 - 45:30 family is obviously enormous what it did to harvey's family is obviously enormous but what it did to the city was really my problem [Music] dianne feinstein moved into the role of mayor she had run against moscone and lost in fact she told the reporter just hours before the assassination that she would not run again and early on i decided that i was not going to let assassination work
• 45:30 - 46:00 that i would keep everybody from the chief of police to all the commissioners to his staff until i ran on my own and was mayor in my own right which was a year from that time and that's what i did feinstein appointed don herranzi to white seat milk left three names of potential successors on his assassination recording feinstein chose the third another gay man harry britt she turned her attention to the daily
• 46:00 - 46:30 business of the city a trial for dan white looming just six months away many thought dan white's confession would result in a death sentence but almost as soon as the tape had been released there were questions about white's mental fitness i do believe that there was a certain psychopathology present in dan white that none of us saw and this happened
• 46:30 - 47:00 there were questions immediately about dan white's depression and whether the junk food he ate played a role is telling me today that when dan white went into one of these depressive states he would stay in the house lie in bed and watch television the interesting note is what he ate while he was in one of these moods foods with high sugar content like coke pepsi cupcakes and twinkies the effect of this sugar on his mind and
• 47:00 - 47:30 body could be key testimony in the dan white defense at the time california pediatric allergist dr ben feingold was touting a now debunked connection between junk food and hyperactive children so the effect of that much junk food on say an adult's mind is depression generally it could be yeah with with a high intake of carbohydrate i say we predictive depression that's right but remember there's nothing absolute because it can always be the exception where you get stimulation i understand that could it lead to an
• 47:30 - 48:00 unusual form of behavior oh unquestionably of all the environmental factors anything in the environment can be a factor but i think the so-called junk foods are the most important and the reason i say that is because we can control the behavior 60 70 percent of these individuals involved by just controlling what we call junk food the avenues in them the idea that depression and junk food twinkies drove dan white to kill i don't think anyone in our family believes that anyone who kills anybody
• 48:00 - 48:30 isn't suffering from mental illness if you devalue life to that point there's something going on with you period there's no sane person in a sane moment proactively killing somebody there was no disputing that dan white killed mayor moscone and supervisor milk the big question was should he be sent to san quentin's death row for planning the murder or get a lesser manslaughter charge that would put him away for a couple of years
• 48:30 - 49:00 dan white clearly planned that those two murders dan white entered the city hall by way of a window carrying a gun he did not go through the normal means by which you get there which means he had to traverse obstacles of being discovered armed how could somebody like dan white this all-american boy do such a despicable thing and of course what we know is that's who does it all
• 49:00 - 49:30 the time that's exactly who attacks us that's who kills us many in the lgbtq community worried white would get away with the murders because he was a former cop and firefighter and then when the jury finally gets convened and oh my goodness it's all white heterosexuals how do you do that in san francisco at the time was 17 african-american where 18 000 gay men were arriving every day but you got a jury that's all white and all straight good for you the prosecution contended that white
• 49:30 - 50:00 intended to kill the mayor and supervisor when he packed his gun and extra bullets before leaving the house the gun shows intent it doesn't at all it shows that in fact he took a gun and nobody's ever disputed that and it shows in fact that he shot some people with that gun i don't think aforshire you can go back and say well because he took the gun he intended to kill somebody then there was that window he snuck through instead of using the main entrance a civil engineer saw dan white
• 50:00 - 50:30 pacing outside and then crawled through a window the civil engineer who called to white after he crawled through the window hey wait a minute white waited and said my aide was supposed to come down and give me a key but never showed i'm dan white the city supervisor i gotta go white never took the stand in his defense instead the prosecution played portions of dan white's arrest confession
• 50:30 - 51:00 five members of the jury cried while the tape played white's attorney played up his client's all-american image he said the tapes filled with sobbing showed that dan white was a broken man depressed unable to take care of his family not thinking in his right mind as witnesses took the stand they tried to portray white as a man who wouldn't normally kill someone he just snapped
• 51:00 - 51:30 there were no witnesses known to me and who are not and who are known to me at this time who would say that he was an immoral man apart from having killed george moscone and harvey milk on november 27th which of course is the most immoral act i can imagine when dianne feinstein took the stand dan white cried she told the jury she called white to lessen the blow of not being reappointed but she didn't
• 51:30 - 52:00 reach him when he sped past her on his way to harvey milk's office feinstein told the jury he was pale-faced and when she heard the first shot she was convinced white had killed himself when asked by defense if white is the type of a man who would murder two people she said no it would not be my opinion feinstein would later clarified that her statement did not mean she didn't believe white did not kill the mayor and supervisor that day i believe it was intended but i believe
• 52:00 - 52:30 it was because of a sense of personal betrayal in that harvey did not help him regain his appointment as the trial wound to a close the city was divided the dan white murder trial has taken an emotional toll on many many observers feel sympathy understanding lots of things but it always comes back to that bottom line no matter what was going on in dan white's mind white did kill the mayor and harvey
• 52:30 - 53:00 milk degree of responsibility that he had everyone wondered where the jury would land the trial was so high profile that even local high schools were holding mock trials to understand dan white's fate most the people here believe he's first degree murder i don't i don't think he's really guilty of that we have reached a verdict but we're deliberating on special circumstances or not we don't know whether or not we want
• 53:00 - 53:30 juan him with death or possible parole when the verdict did come down there was shock and outrage after 36 hours of deliberation the jury of seven women and five men announced its verdict the verdicts just come in for the killings of george moscone and harvey milk voluntary manslaughter on both counts after the verdict total chaos no one expected dan white to get off with voluntary manslaughter twice
• 53:30 - 54:00 what happened here was the jury understood dan white the reaction from city leaders stunned i'm horrified by the sympathy that they showed for this very violent person i am insulted that such a hateful act could be looked at as just a momentary aberration rather than seen as a real symptom of a kind of personality that that however deranged it is it's a kind of derangement that society has to has to
• 54:00 - 54:30 fight constantly i think that this is a major verdict and it's going to throw into scrutiny the whole criminal justice system there was inordinate surprise at the verdict it just was just hurtful it's just painful they ignored the facts and the tension began to increase and increase until uh it blew up didn't you just hear it it's outrageous it's outrageous it's it's exactly like
• 54:30 - 55:00 saying that a person commits suicide by shooting themselves five times in the head right i mean if you shoot a person once then i can say well okay you didn't know what you were doing but he shot he shot he shot moscone in the body disabled him on the floor then shot him some more in the head it's almost equating the thing well almost anybody can go out and kill anybody if they want to and they can get off really people are in jail for 10 years for possession of marijuana what do you think this community is going to be like now i think there's going to be a lot of
• 55:00 - 55:30 hostility an awful lot of hostility a lot of nervous tension tonight may come out there's gonna be a rally down at city hall we'll have to see what happens they started marching at 7 30 just two hours after the verdict came in in the dan white trial at first there were only about 300 people moving in an orderly or sometimes noisy body 10 12 20 abreast from castro street marching east on market towards san francisco city hall there was no attempt to stop them if anything the police helped blocking traffic on all sides
• 55:30 - 56:00 but by the time the crowd reached city hall it had grown to at least five thousand people the crowd continued to grow and so did the anger people were shouting get dan white they said kill dan white now if you listen to the video of that night you hear people screaming no more violence they're talking to the rioters they're not talking to the police or the town white they didn't want violence supervisor harry britt the man named to
• 56:00 - 56:30 replace harvey milk tried to quiet the crowd but it was no good they called him names shouted him down said he was just a pawn there were attempts by some gay activists to ride it out as if they could prevent violence we're forming a line trying to push him back and we're moving back away from the building you know what happens if it gets out of hand let's all pray that it doesn't it did not work the mob turned their anger on city hall [Applause] [Music]
• 56:30 - 57:00 [Applause] and then they turned their anger towards the police setting their cars on fire when those flames went up the crowd went crazy [Music] the sound of sirens pierced the night air as the police cars began to explode everybody's long simmering resentment and rage just blew
• 57:00 - 57:30 up by 11 o'clock it was a full-scale riot as the police cars continued to burn officers pushed the angry mob away from city hall but that didn't end it fires broke out throughout the city there was looting along larkin and market streets liquor stores were broken into and still at one o'clock in the morning police were reporting no arrests that has now changed at two o'clock they began to board up city hall clean up the glass and sweep the streets it was over
• 57:30 - 58:00 for the moment i think it's important for everyone in this city to know that we're not going to continue to tolerate this mayor feinstein was in her office during the riot she listened as her windows were broken and could smell the tear gas as it wafted up from the street by the time the white night riot was over 63 officers were injured 40 civilians were hurt police turned their attention on the city's castro neighborhood so you had
• 58:00 - 58:30 quite a few people who deliberately did not go anywhere near city hall but hung out in the castro and were having cocktails and then we're attacked retaliation jones believes for the attacks on police during the white night riots whatever the police intended to do had only widened the divide between the lgbtq community and the police the city fell into an uneasy new normal what it did to the city
• 58:30 - 59:00 was divided right down the middle was create a tension an apprehension some of its sorrow some of it hate very visceral emotions that you don't usually see all came to the surface and bubbled up at that time dan white was sentenced to seven years and eight months and sent to soledad state prison dianne feinstein would win the mayoral election in 1979. four from the great diversity of our
• 59:00 - 59:30 city can be forged a common effort strong enough to move this city forward and began to make changes to mayor moscone city hall she made committee and commission appointments and installed a new police chief con murphy but deep down she says she knew every decision she made came under scrutiny you know she's had she had to hold her tongue for so many many years about how she felt about everything she had to hold the city together she
• 59:30 - 60:00 couldn't lose it i know what happened i lived those times [Music] and you know i've tried to learn from them in terms of the kind of public servant i am and that's really enough for me dan went to state prison for what was four years during those four years the tensions were mayor feinstein talked to her police chief about the possibility that dan
• 60:00 - 60:30 white may try to return to san francisco so i asked chief murphy to go to los angeles to see him and to bring with him a letter from me and in that letter we simply said that the wounds are still very deep and murphy said that he shouldn't come back to the city his chances of survival were not good he could jeopardize both his family as well as our own public safety
• 60:30 - 61:00 you didn't get any assurance that he would not no i have not had a response white was paroled to los angeles we need to know why you felt it necessary to go down and warn dan white not to come home well i think it was primarily a major concern that the that the mayor had she wanted to uh to be sure that dan white knew what the sentiment in san francisco was against his return but the l.a community did not want him there either he did come back
• 61:00 - 61:30 he was not really able to do much six months later he went downstairs and connected a line to the exhaust of his car and killed himself i think for san francisco this is the final chapter in a very sad part of our history i hope it's closed the final chapter ended today in a garage in san francisco's excelsior district where dan white apparently took
• 61:30 - 62:00 his own life he was found in his car today about 10 minutes to two there's a hose leading from the exhaust pipe into the car there was a note left on the windshield of the car to his brother apologizing for the uh putting him through the ordeal of finding his body and there was another personal notice one to his wife and one to his mother my friends in college were all thinking it was a big act moment for us to celebrate and i just felt like it all felt like oh and now the whole thing was
• 62:00 - 62:30 useless no one everyone participated in this died just proved proved how how awful and incomprehensible unjustified and non-twinkling defense it was the homicide inspector who took dan white's confession was a childhood friend in 1998 he dropped a bombshell white had intended to kill more people that day including another supervisor and a close friend of mayor moscone he
• 62:30 - 63:00 said you know frank i really lost it that day didn't i and i said dan you really did he says well i wanted to get carol ruth silver and i wanted to get willie brown too it's still to this day must traumatize every one of those jurors because by now they've got to know that this was a planned premeditated
• 63:00 - 63:30 attack on two other human beings with plans for additional premeditated attacks on other human beings and they've got to know that they've got to live with that [Music]
• 63:30 - 64:00 so [Music] so [Music]
• 64:00 - 64:30 so [Music]
• 64:30 - 65:00 so [Music] [Music] so [Music]
• 65:00 - 65:30 you